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Susan H. Greenburg
Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt: Seven former presidents of public institutions in Florida published in an op-ed in The Tampa Bay Times Wednesday criticizing the legislative steps the state has taken to reshape higher education by dictating what faculty can teach, curtailing the power of accrediting bodies and banning diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

“These measures erode academic freedom, prohibit instructors from accurately conveying history to their students and, ultimately, limit students’ access to the full range of information and ideas they need to become engaged citizens,” they wrote.

Sara Weissman
Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt: Five professors laid off by the County College of Morris in New Jersey two years ago may be poised to get their jobs back after a state hearing examiner recently issued a scathing ruling concluding that their layoffs were a retaliatory move related to their union activities.

Elazar Cramer and Yonah Berenson
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip killed, raped, kidnapped, and wounded thousands of innocent civilians in Israel’s Southern District on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. They took over one hundred and fifty civilians hostage, including American citizens, and they have threatened to begin executing them.

It brings us only distress to detail these horrific events, but we must because too few on this campus have expressed the repugnance that these murders must prompt.

Samuel J. Abrams
American Enterprise Institute

Excerpt: In a recent and heated discussion about how to address the progressive capture and toxic culture of fear and silence that has engulfed so many of our nation’s colleges and universities, I realized that almost everyone lost sight of how much progress has been made in just a few years.

It is not clear how Florida will play out or if the various institutes and schools being established around the nation will effectively turn the tide. But what is unquestionable is that in a relatively short period of time, the American polity has become aware that there is a problem with expression on college campuses and that states and various groups have mobilized around fixing this crisis.

Ariana Figueroa
NC Newsline

Excerpt: One of Thomasina Brown’s favorite books is a memoir about a girl who deals with the grief of losing her father and struggles with her sexual identity. Brown, a 16-year-old student at Nixa High School in Nixa, Missouri, said in an interview that she felt a connection with the book, as she grieved the loss of her own father and came to terms with her own queer identity.

That book, “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic,” is one of the more than 3,300 books that have been banned during the 2022-2023 school year, a 33% increase from the previous school year, according to a report by PEN America, a group that is dedicated to fighting book bans and advocates for the First Amendment.

Elwood Watson
Daily Freeman

Excerpt: Those of us who work in academia understand that academic freedom represents the cornerstone of successful colleges and universities. It epitomizes the right of freedom to teach, discuss, engage in research and freely publish your findings. It also means the ability to dictate one’s own teaching and scholarship agenda, the security of academic positions and shared governance to ensure independence.

Despite such facts, the mission of academic freedom is under severe attack from varied quarters, resulting in ominous and potentially dangerous threats for both students and professors.

Collin Binkley, Jocelyn Gecker and Emily Swanson
Associated Press

Excerpt: Americans view college campuses as far friendlier to liberals than to conservatives when it comes to free speech, with adults across the political spectrum seeing less tolerance for those on the right, according to a new poll.

Overall, 47% of adults say liberals have “a lot” of freedom to express their views on college campuses, while just 20% said the same of conservatives, according to polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the University of Chicago Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression.

Stephanie Lundquist Arora
Washington Examiner

Excerpt: Fairfax County’s school district updated its code of conduct this year to include a “required culturally responsive, learning intervention” for students with first-time “hate speech” infractions. In Fairfax County, hate speech is defined in the broadest sense possible to include “misgendering.”

Fairfax County Public Schools has a history of compelling speech, arguably violating the First Amendment. In the last year, the 12 Democrat-endorsed school board members have made “ misgendering ” and “deadnaming” offenses punishable with suspensions for students as young as 5. It has also implemented a bias incident reporting system , which restricts free speech and is being challenged in courts nationwide

Jenna A. Robinson
James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal

Excerpt: Last week, UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC Charlotte won Heterodox Academy’s “Institutional Excellence Award” for having “done the most to advance or sustain open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement either on its own campus or nationally.”

UNC-Chapel Hill trustee Perrin Jones told the Martin Center, “The Carolina Community—our students, administrators, trustees, and faculty—is in agreement about the important role that freedom of thought, conscience, and speech play within both the university and our broader society.” Jones, who spearheaded trustee efforts on free expression and institutional neutrality, added, “UNC, as it has done before, is proud to lead the way in protecting, and advancing, these freedoms.”

Heterodox Academy Panel Discussion, Wednesday, September 27, 4pm ET

Excerpt: Many colleges and universities are taking, or re-stating, official positions and principles on issues of open inquiry and free expression on campus – sometimes in response to external pressure, or through influence from varying campus groups.

What does this trend tell us, if anything, about the direction of higher education? Are official statements just cheap lip service? Or is this a moment for faculty to organize on campus to create positive change – and if so, what might that look like?

Ethan Hicks, ‘26
Princetonians for Free Speech

Excerpt: While Princeton remains ranked significantly below average in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression 2024 ranking (placing 187th of 248 ranked schools), its commitment to academic freedom of expression in line with the Chicago Principles was renewed during freshman orientation for the Class of 2027. This year’s orientation activities featured a variety of mandatory and optional free speech events educating incoming students on their free speech rights.

Abigail Anthony
National Review

Excerpt: A Texas public school fired an eighth-grade English teacher who assigned the reading Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation, a graphic version of Anne’s unforgettable diary. The adaptation is particularly contentious because it depicts passages in which Anne describes her genitalia, expresses curiosity about the female body, and talks about menstruation.

Perhaps most egregiously, it’s a simplification that dishonors the care that Anne devoted to her writing. The issue is not whether teenagers are prompted to engage with her explicit passages; it’s whether they’re prompted to engage with her writing at all.

Jonathan Kay
Quillette

Excerpt: In his new book, the German-born American political scientist authoritatively traces the evolution of the “identity synthesis” (Spoiler alert: that’s the term he’s come up with to describe the ideology formerly known as wokeness) by reference to the ideas of Karl Marx, Michel Foucault, Edward Said, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Noam Chomsky, and other influential leftist thinkers.

At its root, Mounk argues, the identity synthesis is an illiberal intellectual movement that rejects liberalism’s focus on colorblindness, free speech, individualism, and ideological pluralism—while also rejecting Marxism’s utopian promise of a better future in which society’s class-based divisions are healed.

Bridget O'Neill
Daily Princetonian

Excerpt: University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 responded to criticism of the inclusion of a controversial book on a course syllabus on Wednesday after Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) sent a public letter urging the book be removed. Eisgruber defended academic freedom and made the case that it could coexist with a welcoming environment for students.

Gottheimer is the latest public figure to criticize the book, titled “The Right to Maim: Debility, Capacity, Disability” which is on the syllabus for NES 301: The Healing Humanities — Decolonizing Trauma Studies from the Global South taught by Professor Satyel Larson.

Princetonians for Free Speech Summary of College Pulse / FIRE Data

Excerpt: Princeton ranked 187 out of 248 schools in the 2024 College Free Speech Ranking. While the school ranked 32nd for students’ surveyed comfort in expressing their ideas, Princeton suffered in their “Disruptive Conduct” score (ranked 186th), and the measured difference in tolerance for liberal versus conservative speakers (ranked 184th). Princeton also maintains a “Red light” speech code.

One surveyed Princeton student noted: "The time people came to a publicly available spot on campus and were campaigning[sic] for their beliefs which I didn't agree with, but was appalled at the response from students trying to bar their free speech. Everyone is garunteed[sic] rights and it is against the credo of a Princeton Student to be disengenous[sic] to free speech - regardless if you agree with what they say."

Graham Hillard
James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal
 
Excerpt: On the evening of July 17, 2020, one of two things happened on a blocked thoroughfare in Charlottesville, Virginia. Either Morgan Bettinger, a rising senior at UVA, uttered a threatening and contemptible remark to Black Lives Matter protestors who were barring her way home. Or the young woman made an anodyne comment that was immediately—and perhaps intentionally—misunderstood.

A new lawsuit filed by Bettinger asks a jury to find that the University of Virginia, in responding to the incident, violated her rights.

Paul Musgrave
Systematic Hatreds, Substack
 
Excerpt: A pair of Stanford scholars committed an op-ed in The New York Times this weekend, arguing that we need to bring back civics education to save democracy. Specifically, they argue, the “intolerance of ideas” that is percolating in American society results from “the failure of higher education to provide students with the kind of shared intellectual framework that we call ‘civic education.’”

I realized just how breathtakingly reactionary the essay is. There was a golden age, and then the wicked neoliberals introduced the elective, and now people are unable to live in a diverse society. To fix our society, we need this one weird trick that will save us from our depredations. Simple as!

KC Johnson
Chronicle of Higher Education

Excerpt: The Biden administration intends, in October, to release new Title IX regulations to deal with campus sexual assault and harassment. In their proposed form, the regulations strip from accused students virtually all of the procedural protections they currently have under Title IX, unless a local court ruling requires their college or university to employ a fairer process.

To understand why we are waiting for yet another set of Title IX regulations, it’s important to understand the history of the last 12 years.

Sahar Tartak
Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism

Excerpt: Like many campus clubs, the Yale Free Press (YFP) is a decades-old college paper that has risen and fallen with the times. During the pandemic, the YFP nearly died. Last year, an ambitious editor-in-chief brought it back, but unfortunately felt it was necessary to use the pseudonym “Gentleman Jack.” He wasn’t alone—many writers also went by pseudonyms. Why? The Yale Free Press is right-of-center. Journalists are not immune to fear of retaliation for wrongthink, even at (especially at?) the university level.

This year I’m counting on the maturity of my fellow classmates; I’m betting that by putting my real name on the masthead, I can encourage others to own their opinions, and to treat those with differing opinions with kindness and respect.

Darius Gross
Princeton Tory

Excerpt: In recent weeks, controversy has arisen surrounding an upcoming course in Princeton’s Near Eastern Studies (NES) Department for its inclusion of a book on its sample reading list that claims the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) deliberately cripples Palestinians.

While free speech protections are vital to the University and the book’s removal should not be the first response in a case like this, that does not mean anything goes. A piece of work that has sparked academic scandal must be thoughtfully studied in that context. If Prof. Larson refuses to acknowledge the plethora of scholarship critical of Puar’s book and its unfounded allegations, then she will have strayed from the University’s truth-seeking purpose, and removal of the work as Steinlauf has urged may prove necessary.

Keith E. Whittington
Volokh Conspiracy, Reason Magazine

Excerpt: I noted last month that a Fourth Circuit panel had handed down a divided decision in Porter v. North Carolina State University. The case involved a tenured statistics professor in the college of education who was removed from the program in higher education after a number of complaints he had made about the program becoming too focused on social justice. The Porter panel denied his claim that the speech for which he was being punished was constitutionally protected.

I have now posted an article-length paper examining the competing arguments in Porter and contending that neither the majority nor the dissent approached the question in the right way. I offer an alternative approach to extending the Supreme Court's doctrine on government employee speech to the particular context of intramural speech by state university professors.

Jordan Howell
Foundation for Individual Rights in Expression

Excerpt: It’s not everyday that presidents from more than a dozen of the nation’s leading universities announce an ambitious initiative advocating for free expression in higher education, but that’s exactly what happened last week, according to a press release from The Institute for Citizens & Scholars and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

These are all laudable actions, and FIRE is excited to see presidents from these institutions answering the call to protect freedom of speech on their campuses, especially in the wake of numerous events in recent years that have had a chilling effect on free speech — from retaliation against faculty for expressing their political views to student-led shout-downs of speakers with controversial views.

Kathryn Palmer
Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt: Law schools may soon be required to adopt written free speech policies under a proposal being considered by the American Bar Association.

The potential changes come after, but are not a direct consequence of, multiple high-profile incidents of student disruptions of speakers at law schools prompted widespread debates about free speech, academic freedom and students’ right to protest.

Yascha Mounk and Greg Lukianoff
The Good Fight Podcast, Persuasion

Excerpt: In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Greg Lukianoff discuss the state of free speech culture on America’s campuses and in society more broadly; FIRE’s progress litigating against coercive legislation in Florida and elsewhere; and the need to foster cultural habits that uphold individual expression.

Press release
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression

Today, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression filed a lawsuit on behalf of six California community college professors to halt new, systemwide regulations forcing professors to espouse and teach politicized conceptions of “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” Each of the professors teach at one of three Fresno-area community colleges within the State Center Community College District. Under the new regulations, all of the more-than-54,000 professors who teach in the California Community Colleges system must incorporate “anti-racist” viewpoints into classroom teaching.

The regulations explicitly require professors to pledge allegiance to contested ideological viewpoints. Professors must “acknowledge” that “cultural and social identities are diverse, fluid, and intersectional,” and they must develop “knowledge of the intersectionality of social identities and the multiple axes of oppression that people from different racial, ethnic, and other minoritized groups face.” Faculty performance and tenure will be evaluated based on professors’ commitment to and promotion of the government’s viewpoints.

September-October 2023
Jonathan Shaw
Harvard Magazine

Excerpt: At Harvard, there are research areas that can’t be investigated, subjects that can’t be broached in public, and ideas that can’t be discussed in a classroom. So says a group of more than 120 Harvard faculty members, who have formed a Council on Academic Freedom to respond to perceived assaults on free inquiry and a climate of eroded trust that they say stifle dissent.

Jeremy C. Young and Jeffrey Sachs
The Daily Beast

Excerpt: The legislative war on college and university free speech has sadly become a persistent feature of the policymaking process in statehouses across the country. Another round of state legislative sessions has come and gone and with it many new proposals that would impose extensive restrictions on what can be taught in higher education classrooms.

Excerpt: Last Wednesday, in the wake of a report that Princeton University will include a book in its syllabus that claims that the IDF had been harvesting Palestinian organs, Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli wrote a letter to the university’s senior leadership, Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber and Dean of Faculty, Professor Gene A. Jarrett.
“I am writing to you as Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, which entails the responsibility of fighting incitement and bigotry against the Jewish People and the State of Israel,” Chikli prefaced the letter.

Laura Beltz
Foundation for Individual Rights in Expression

Excerpt: Kiosks and bulletin boards, where students share everything from band tryout notices to political statements, are a classic part of a college campus. Even in the age of social media, posting materials where fellow students will likely see them, on the way to class or their dorm, is a critical avenue for expression.

But the University of South Dakota put a roadblock smack-dab in the middle of that avenue with its heavy-handed Poster and Advertising Policy.

The Editorial Board
Wall Street Journal

Excerpt: The diversity, equity and inclusion bureaucracy has injected progressive politics into many corners of the private economy, but its role in medicine is especially pernicious. Now a lawsuit is challenging whether California can force doctors who teach continuing medical education courses to also teach racial politics.

Washington Examiner Editorial
Washington Examiner

Excerpt: The more documents that Big Tech companies are forced to cough up through litigation and oversight, the clearer it becomes that there was in fact a coordinated campaign between social media platforms and the government to suppress speech that is inconvenient for those in power.

This censorship runs counter to our nation’s founding principles. Congress and litigants should keep up the pressure on social media companies to reveal what they did, and safeguards need to be put in place to make sure this never happens again.

Ryan Quinn
Inside Higher Ed

Excerpt: State governments often pick willing researchers to testify in lawsuits, buttressing their arguments. Outside of litigation, governments also often share data with professors, helping the scholars conduct research and the governments solve problems.

But what happens when researchers who work with a government, outside the courtroom, also testify in a case against that government? In California, the state Department of Education tried to stop one’s testimony and prevent another’s.

Patricia Okker
Chronicle of Higher Education

Excerpt: On Friday, January 6, 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican of Florida, announced six new members to the Board of Trustees at New College of Florida, where I was serving as president. The announcement was not surprising. For weeks I had heard reports that appointments were likely, and everyone expected trustees with strong conservative backgrounds.

In the weeks leading up to the board’s first meeting on January 31 — at which I was fired as president — the logic of this militaristic rhetoric became clear. Far more than a political shift in the governance of our small liberal-arts college, New College had become the epicenter of a debate about the future of academic freedom, shared governance, freedom of expression, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Aaron Sibarium
Washington Free Beacon

Excerpt: Stanford Law School has parted ways with the diversity administrator who in March joined students in protesting a sitting federal judge, according to an email reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.

Keith Whittington
Reason Magazine

Excerpt: I am pleased to see that my latest article on the efforts of state legislatures to restrict what ideas professors can endorse in the classroom has now been published. "Professorial Speech, the First Amendment, and Legislative Restrictions on Classroom Discussions" appears in the latest issue of the Wake Forest Law Review.

Ryan Quinn
Inside Higher Ed

Note: This is another perspective on ‘Porter v. Board of Trustees of North Carolina State University.’

Excerpt: A divided federal appeals court has ruled against a professor who alleged North Carolina State University retaliated against him for three instances of him speaking his mind.

By Conor Friedersdorf
The Atlantic

Excerpt: John D. Haltigan sued the University of California at Santa Cruz in May. He wants to work there as a professor of psychology. But he alleges that its hiring practices violate the First Amendment by imposing an ideological litmus test on prospective hires: To be considered, an applicant must submit a statement detailing their contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Judd Legum

By Sarah Lehr
Wisconsin Public Radio

Excerpt: The University of Wisconsin will no longer require diversity, equity and inclusion statements from job applicants, UW System President Jay Rothman announced Thursday.